College Football is the greatest spectator sport in America. Tailgating is an art form, sampling the local fare, traditions and partaking in a beverage or two is a must. Atmosphere is everything! If you don't attend a game, you can still tailgate right in the confines of your own man-cave. Enjoy the site!
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Sunday, December 7, 2014

With all the
conference championships taking place this weekend, the Tailgate chose to
attend the PAC 12 Championship at the new Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA.
Okay the reality is that it chose me as it is in my backyard and we had complimentary
tickets. I was accompanied by the Dons of Danville: Desimone and Gervolino and
their hired muscle Kevin Duncan. We met up in Red Lot 1 at Levi with Tony from the Yard
aka Pauley Walnuts and his Governor, Jo Yard. While the weather was inclement,
it did not dampen our spirits or enthusiasm for the festivities of the P One
Two Ship Night. Upon unloading the tailgate wagon and setting up camp, we
incurred two back to back 15 yard penalties: The first was realizing we left
the DFT banner behind at DFT HQ breaking Don Gervolino’s heart who is very fond
of the sacred cloth. The second was having to move all of our gear from one end
of the car to the other after we were fully set up complete with hot coals upon
requests from the parking attendants to relocate. Nonetheless, we adapted, overcame and
adjusted to the situation.

Kevin charring the protein.

Lou antagonizing the Vegan visitors.

The menu
consisted of Spinach dip on French bread, Sis’s grilled beer brats smothered in swiss
cheese and kraut, chili infused hot dogs, baked beans and smoked sausage. We
were on a health food kick. Meats were provided courtesy of the head Husker
Jeff “Tebow” Millard. Don Desimone manned the bar and hung the party lights,
Kevin helped me burn meat product and Don Gervolino provided the gas that was necessary
for our tailgate and significantly reduced the liquid provisions that were
brought. Capo Walnuts scored the tickets for all of us. He knows people. He did
make us do the Bataan Death March to find the Will Call window just so we would
fully appreciate his gift to us.

Our Motley Crew wrapping up the tailgate.

﻿

The moon rises over Levi.

Oregon led
by top Heisman candidate Marcus Mariota represented the PAC 12 North and
Arizona with all world LB Scooby Wright were holding the banner for the South.
This was the first year the game was played at a neutral site which also doubles
as the new home of the San Francisco 49ers. The triple whammy of bad planning
occurred: Friday Night game, rain, and a plane ride away for both teams. This lead
to a fairly low attendance, 46,000 paid, less than 40,000 showed. I would like
to see this game on Saturday in the future for a more robust crowd, reflective of the
PAC 12 fan base.

Fans dressed as empty seats

As far as
the game goes, I am just glad that adult beverages were sold during the game.
The Arizona offense must have missed their plane from Tucson because they were
nowhere to be found on this rainy night in the Bay. Marcus Mariota on the other
hand solidified his chances to win the Heisman by having a Houdini like night
escaping from pressure repeatedly to perform miraculous plays. Oregon's defense was noticeably stingy on this night shutting down the Rich Rod spread offensive juggernaut. With the score going into the 4th
quarter at 44 -7, we opted to take our third yellow flag of the night and
depart early. Final score Oregon 51, Arizona 13. As we now know, Oregon locked
up a spot in the new four team playoff and will face the CirimiNoles on New
Years’ day in the Rose Bowl.

A Bud Light commercial at Levi

﻿

Back at the HQ, the Dons get their Pic with the banner.

Around the Country: In the ACC,
the aforementioned Florida State CrimiNoles squeaked by the Georgia Tech Yellow
Jackets for their 29th straight win and the ACC hardware. In the
Georgia Dome for the SEC Cup, Alabama easily beat up Mizzou securing the top
seed in the playoffs and a spot in the Sugar Bowl. In the most impressive win
of the day, Ohio State behind their third string QB Cardale Jones completely
byotch slapped the Weezconsin Baaadgers 59 - 0 at Lucas Oil Field in Indy for
the BIG Ten crystal. The Buckeyes earned the right to face Bama in the Sugar
Bowl for the other playoff game. In the Big 12 where there is no Championship
game, Baylor beat Kansas State and TCU destroyed Iowa State. But apparently
that didn’t matter to the committee of Elders as they felt Ohio State deserved
a seat at the table more than they did. All the more reason for the omnipotent politburo to adopt my 8 team plan next year: 5 Power Five Conference Champs and 3
wildcards. We could fire half of the Walking Dead so called Experts on ESPN if
we did so. Also in the Big 12, Choklahoma overlooked their in state rival OK
State and coughed one up to them in Norman. Out on the blue in Boise, the
Broncos took down the Gangstas from Fresno and won the Mountain West title and
a shot in the Fiesta Bowl. It breaks my heart to see Fresno lose again. If you
happened to watch the Thursday night game, UCF beat ECU on a last second 50 +
yard Hail Mary pass for the most exciting finish of the week.

Dr. Pepper Larry finally gets his final four

Bieber Award

– University of Alabama Birmingham
President Ray Watts, the least bright Regent is this week’s winner. You see Mr.
Watts, after “Analyzing Data" decided to shut down the UAB Blazers program. Robert
Deniro was heard saying “Analyze This Watts”. UAB under their new coach just
completed a turnaround season going 6-6 and becoming bowl eligible. Things were
starting to look up for this Conference USA program. Mr. Watts decided to cancel
the only program that generates revenue for the school instead of those sports
that draw 20 – 30 fans in the stands and make no money. He claims the program
would cost more coin than it brought in. However, he failed to meet with and
discuss the issue with the program's biggest donors and boosters who all said
they would have helped. He more or less unilaterally killed the program on his
own. Rumor has it when he was in college he was chained to a light post on the
campus quad in nothing but his skivvies at UAB when he matriculated through
there in the 70s. He vowed to one day get back at those mean bullies, and so we
have Revenge of the Nerds Part 3 played out in living color. Mr. Watts, you may
no longer have a football program but please take comfort in the fact that you
do now have a Bieber Award to add to your collection of Awards and honors.

President Watts and his mates during his college days.

The Tailgate’s
next stop is Pasadena on New Year’s Day for the Rose Bowl/CFB Playoff game. The
DFT banner will be at the Army Navy game in Baltimore next Saturday carried by
the world’s oldest Army Captain, Lou Capezutto.

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Tailgate Connect

Dan From The Tailgate

DFT

I live for college football weekends. I love tailgating before and after games and absorbing the atmosphere and traditions of the host school. I am on a quest to see a game in every "real" stadium for D1A football in the country and attend as many games and Tailgates as I can. It is more fun to accomplish this with friends and family, thus the DFT Nation has grown far and wide over the last 15 years. I have also added lower Division schools as part of my annual mix. Each Season, I will travel the country and attend numerous games in college stadiums that I have not previously been to and take in the whole experience and blog about it.

I also like to hear about your game day experiences each week. But it is not just about attending different stadiums, our Tailgate has many repeat locations each year for traditional games that are just plain fun like Army- Navy. Last but not least, I am a college football polygamist. Born a Notre Dame fan, Big OU Sooners and Boise State fan. And of course I root on Army and my Alma Mater Frostburg State. Nonetheless, I love all college football and there is no such thing as a bad game.

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The most delicious Slow Cooker Beer Mac & Cheese that is totally homemade, uses your favorite beer and takes your mac and cheese to a whole…

Ingredients

Meat

1 lb Beef stew meat

Produce

1 14.5 oz can Tomatoes, fire-roasted

Canned Goods

1 cup Beef broth

Pasta & Grains

8 oz Pasta noodles

Baking & Spices

2 tbsp Flour

1 tbsp Worcheshire pub burger seasoning

Dairy

3 tbsp Butter

2 cups Cheese

2 cups Milk

Beer, Wine & Liquor

1 1/2 cup Stout beer

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Yahoo College Football Pick EM

Folks, follow the instructions below and cut and paste the link at the bottom. This is a fun weekly activity to measure your picks against others. No money, just for fun and a free DFT T shirt for the winner and DFT hat for 2nd and a pen for third at the end of the season! Let me know if you have any trouble signing up.

Hello Tailgater,

Welcome to Yahoo Sports College Football Pick'em.

You have created the Private Group called The Tailgaters and the Pick Set called Dan's Winners in that group. To allow other people to join this group send them the Group ID# (5374) and the Password (dan). Remember, it is the Group ID#, not the group name, that other people must use to join your group.

You are now ready to participate in College Football Pick'em. Your goal is to select the winner of each week's slate of games.